Defined Benefit

The trustee of the Merchant Navy Officers Pension Fund has selected Towers Watson as the delegated chief investment officer for its £3bn pension fund.

The industry urgently needs a decision on pension tax relief restrictions, the Association of Consulting Actuaries warns.

Nearly four-fifths of scheme managers have welcomed the government's decision to investigate alternative methods of implementing tax-relief restrictions on pension contributions - including reducing the annual allowance to as little as £30,000

UK - One of British Airways' two pension schemes has insured £1.3bn (US$1.9bn) of pensioner liabilities in a buy-in deal with Rothesay Life.

Accounting surveys by KPMG and Hymans Robertson - both published last week - found increases in inflation assumptions have increased markedly but are still failing to keep pace with market assumptions.

UK - The number of schemes closed to existing members will double over the next year, Hewitt Associates warned.

The number of schemes closed to existing members will double over the next year, Hewitt Associates warns.

UK - The Reader's Digest Pension Scheme has entered the Pension Protection Fund's assessment period.

The Reader's Digest Pension Scheme has entered the Pension Protection Fund's assessment period.

HM Treasury has trebled its estimate of the one-off costs that pension schemes, employers and individuals will incur as a result of the tax on higher earners' pension contributions it is introducing from 2011, Towers Watson says.